演讲链接：http://v.163.com/movie/2014/5/T/Q/M9TCRI0FA_M9TCSMKTQ.html
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Harvard remains what it was when I first arrived on campus 50 years ago. Its purpose is not only to advance knowledge, but to advance the ideals of our nation. Great universities are places where people of all backgrounds, holding all beliefs, pursuing all questions can come to study and debate their ideas freely and openly. Today, I’d like to talk with you about how important it is for that freedom to exist for everyone, no matter how strongly we may disagree with another’s viewpoint. Tolerance for other people’s ideas and the freedom to express your own are inseparable values at great universities. Joined together, they form a sacred trust that holds the basis of our democratic society.
哈佛保留了五十年前我刚进校时的优良传统。哈佛的目的不只是增进知识，还包括增进我们关于国家的理想。各种背景、各种信仰、探寻各种问题的人，都能在伟大的大学中自由开放地学习知识并探讨想法。今天我想和大家谈谈这种自由对于每个人而言是多么重要，无论我们多么强烈反对别人的观点。对他人想法的容忍以及表达自身言论的自由是伟大的大学中不可分割的价值，两者结合在一起，构成了维持民主社会根基的神圣信赖。
Ideas can be dangerous. They can change society. They can upend traditions. They can start revolutions.
思想确实危险，思想能够改变社会，思想能够颠覆传统，思想能够开启革命。
Great universities must not become predictably partisan. And a liberal arts education must not be an education in the art of liberalism. The role of universities is not to promote an ideology. It is to provide scholars and students with a neutral forum for researching and debating issues without tipping the scales in one direction or repressing unpopular views.
伟大的大学不应当戴有党派的有色眼镜，教育不应当成为自由主义的教育。大学的角色不应当是宣扬某一种意识形态，而应当是为学者和学生提供问题研究和辩论的中立论坛，不让天平朝任何一个方向倾斜，不抑制不受欢迎的观点。
John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty: “The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race, posterity as well as the existing generation, those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchangeing error for truth. If wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error.”
约翰·斯图尔特·密尔的《论自由》中写道：“强迫别人不能发表意见的邪恶，乃是对整个人类的掠夺，对后代和当代人类的掠夺，对不同意于那个意见的人掠夺更多。假如那意见是对的，那么他们是被剥夺了以错误换真理的机会；假如那意见是错的，那么他们是失掉了一个差不多同样大的利益，那就是从真理与错误冲突中产生出来的对于真理的更加清楚的认识和更加生动的印象。”
Some students called on the administration to rescind the invitation to Johnston, because they opposed some of his education policies. But to their great credit, President Faust and Dean Ryan stood firm. As Dean Ryan wrote to students, “I have encountered many people of good faith who share my basic goals, but disagree with my views when it comes to the question of how best to improve education. In my view, those differences should be explored, debated, challenged, and questioned. But they should also be respected and indeed, celebrated.” He could not have been more correct and he could not have provided a more valuable final lesson to the class of 2014.
不少学生号召管理层撤回对约翰斯顿的邀请，因为他们反对他的一些教育政策。不过，佛斯特校长和赖安院长都非常坚定，赖安院长写信给这些学生说，“我碰到过很多怀有良好愿望的人，他们都有相同的目标，只是同我在教育如何改善的问题上观点存在分歧。在我看来，这些分歧应当经过探讨和辩论，收到挑战和质疑，同时他们也应受到尊敬和庆贺。”他是完全正确的，他以自身言行为2014届毕业生上了最为宝贵的最后一课。
Now I get to the class of 2014. You graduates must help lead the way. On every issue, we must follow the evidence where it leads, and listen to people where they are. If we do that, there is no problem we cannot solve, no gridlock we cannot break, no compromise we cannot broker. The more we embrace a free exchange of ideas and the more we accept that political diversity, the healthier we are and the stronger our society will be.
回到2014届毕业生来，你们必须引领前路。每个问题上，我们都应当遵循证据的指引，倾听人们的意见。只要我们这样做，就没有什么问题解决不了，没有解不开的死结，没有谈不妥的和解。思想交流越自由，政治多样性越强，我们就越健康，社会就会越强大。
Graduates, throughout your lives, do not be afraid of saying what you believe is right no matter how unpopular it may be, especially when it comes to defending the rights of others. Stand up for the rights of others, and in some ways it’s even more important than standing up for your own rights. Because when people seek to repress freedom for some and you remain silent, you are complicit in that repression and you may well become its victim. Do not be complicit, and do not follow the crowd. Speak up, and fight back. You will take your lumps, I can assure you of that. You will lose some friends and make some enemies, I can assure you of that too. But the arc of history will be on your side, and your nation will be stronger for it.
毕业生们，在你们一生中，不要害怕说出自己认为正确的东西，无论它有多么不受欢迎，特别是在捍卫他人权利的时候。捍卫他人权利，有时比捍卫自身权利更为重要。因为当人们寻求抑制其他人自由的时候，你可能会保持沉默，这样你将会助长这种抑制，哪天你可能也会成为受害者。不要串通一气，不要人云亦云，大声说出来，有力地回击。我敢肯定，你会受到批评。我敢肯定，你还会失去一些朋友，树立一些敌人。但历史会站在你这一边，我们的国家也会因此更加强盛。
